


Fires

by Ziggy_Scardust



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Canon Compliant, Companion Piece, Gen, Harry Potter & Ron Weasley Friendship, Missing Scene, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Ron's version of the Great Rift of '94
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ziggy_Scardust/pseuds/Ziggy_Scardust
Summary: This is a companion piece to FloreatCastellum's "Envy", describing Ron's side during the Great Rift of '94. I have a headcanon that Ron & Sirius talked briefly in the fire after Harry went up to bed (after throwing a POTTER STINKS badge at Ron's head.)
Relationships: Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Sirius Black & Harry Potter
Kudos: 46





	Fires

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FloreatCastellum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloreatCastellum/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Envy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19788034) by [FloreatCastellum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloreatCastellum/pseuds/FloreatCastellum). 



_ ‘There you go,’ said Harry harshly. ‘Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you’re lucky… That’s what you want, isn’t it?’ _

_ He stormed past Ron and headed up the stairs. Ron blinked. Harry had never spoken to him like that before. It was the kind of venom usually reserved for Malfoy. _

_ He looked down at the object that had bounced off his head. POTTER REALLY STINKS flashed up at him. Feeling as though he were in a daze, he picked it up and slowly walked over to sink onto the sofa by the fire. There were glowing embers in it, despite the time. _

He was just turning away to go back upstairs when there was a familiar  _ whoosh _ from the Floo, and he snapped his head back around. 

Sirius’ head was in the fire again, looking around anxiously, as if to see where Harry had gone. He jumped when he saw Ron, and appeared to be on the verge of pulling his head back out when his eyes widened in recognition. 

“‘Lo, Sirius,” said Ron, waving dully. It was a bit awkward, he supposed, to be face to face again with a convicted (albeit innocent) murderer who had broken his leg before saving his life from a werewolf and his own pet rat five months previously. He swallowed.

Sirius nodded at him. “Hi, Ron,” he said slowly, his eyes still raking the room. “Harry’s gone to bed, then?”

Ron nodded. 

“There was a noise on his end, so I left,” explained Sirius tiredly. “Thought I’d pop back in and see if the coast was clear, but it’s late, no sense waking him up.”

“I’m the only one that heard,” said Ron. “Erm - how - how are you?” he asked. Sirius did look considerably healthier and more kempt than he had in the Shack, but by the sounds of it, Sirius had had a rough go of things while he, Ron, had been lying unconscious in the hospital wing.

“Fine,” said Sirius, as if this were a throwaway fact of no real importance. “And you? I don’t know what curse Peter hit you with, are you all right?”

Ron shrugged. “Fine, I s’pose. Pomfrey patched me up.”

“About that,” said Sirius, looking distinctly guilty. “I’m so sorry I broke your leg, Ron, I really didn’t mean to - I was going for the rat, of course, but I did a lot more damage than I meant.”

“No worries,” said Ron, shrugging again. “You did save me from the Death Eater in my bed, I think we’re square.”

Sirius’ apologetic expression seemed to lighten somewhat, but his forehead was still creased. “I don’t suppose you’d tell Harr-” he cut himself off. “Never mind,” he added quickly. “I’d best be going.”

“He told you we’re not speaking, then?” said Ron shrewdly, a little angrily. Of course, Harry had had to go and complain to Sirius about how  _ unfair  _ it all was. 

Sirius bit his lip. “Yeah,” he said, a little uncomfortably. Ron snorted, and turned away, making to leave. 

“Just - tell him ‘go for the eyes’,” he heard Sirius’ voice call hurriedly. Ron swung around; something about that phrase was eerily familiar. 

“What’d you say?” he asked, looking keenly back at Sirius.

“Tell him - if you can - that the last thing we talked about, I said to go for the eyes,” said Sirius, the urgency rising in his tone. He looked a little desperate to Ron, his brow furrowed in worry, and something clunked into place in Ron’s brain. 

“That’s what Charlie always says,” he said slowly, stepping back over to look Sirius in the eye. “First rule of dragon safety, if you need to overpower one, go for the eyes. They try to be more humane at the sanctuary, but if you’re in trouble, _go for the eyes_.” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Sirius, who looked taken aback. _Charlie knew_ , said a voice in his head, _he knew about the Tournament when he came home this summer_ , _and he doesn’t work at the Ministry._ _The only reason he’d know would be..._

“Why d’you want me to tell Harry to go for the eyes?” he said, a little harshly. “Are they bringing in  _ dragons _ ? Is that the first task?”

Sirius met Ron’s gaze stubbornly, then seemed to change his mind. 

“Yes,” he admitted, with a sigh. “I thought you’d know, Harry said he saw your brother with them.”

“Bloody  _ fucking _ hell,” breathed Ron, sitting heavily down into the armchair beside the fire. “Charlie wouldn’t have told me,” he muttered, as much to himself as to Sirius, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. “Probably not allowed. Students aren’t meant to know bugger-all about the Triwizard.”

“Hagrid showed Harry,” nodded Sirius. “Probably against the rules, but then again, Hagrid doesn’t care much about rules.”

“Too true,” muttered Ron, still staring into space.  _ Dragons _ . Charlie always said they had a dozen handlers  _ per dragon _ , on average. And Charlie had had to get even more qualifications after Hogwarts to do it. Harry wasn’t bad in Care of Magical Creatures, but a four-foot-long Skrewt was a far cry from a fifty-foot dragon. He didn’t even know what sort of spell you were meant to use to “go for the eyes”; how had he  _ never _ thought to ask Charlie?

“This is mad,” he said to no one in particular. “It was supposed to be safer this time. But you need a dozen-odd trained blokes to handle  _ one _ dragon.”

“I know,” said Sirius. His voice sounded tight. “Just - tell him about the eyes, or anything else you know about dragons, would you? I don’t know when I’ll be able to risk the Floo again.”

“I don’t -” Ron began hesitantly. Sirius interrupted.

“Ron, quite frankly, I don’t give a flying fuck right now about the state of your friendship. You’re fourteen, you work it out,” he said impatiently. “The only thing - the  _ only _ thing - that I care about right now is Harry still being alive after the task, so tell Hermione, give him a note, I don’t care, just - make sure he knows about the eyes. It’s the only thing I know that might actually help.”

Ron turned to look Sirius in the eye, and as much as Sirius’ appearance had improved in the six months since their last meeting, his eyes looked as deadened and haunted as ever. Ron blinked, seeing his own shock and apprehension reflected in Sirius’ face. He swallowed, hard, and nodded.

“Thanks,” said Sirius, with a sigh and half a yawn. “Believe me, Ron, he didn’t ask for this.”

Something tightened in Ron’s chest, and his face went hot with shame. He nodded dumbly again at Sirius, now feeling exceptionally guilty. Sirius looked at him for a moment, apparently teetering on the edge of speech. More to avoid his gaze than anything else, Ron feigned a yawn himself and got up from his chair, though he was no longer sleepy in the least.

Sirius looked at him a moment as he made to leave, then said quickly, “I don’t have to tell you things look fishy, do I? Keep an eye out.” Ron heard the unspoken  _ for Harry _ tacking itself onto the end of Sirius’ sentence.

“Yeah,” he answered awkwardly. “You as well. ‘Night.”

Sirius disappeared with a light  _ pop _ . Now that he was gone, Ron felt even worse; Sirius’ strained voice echoed in his head.  _ The only thing I care about is Harry still being alive after the task. _

_ Still being alive _ . It sounded mad. This wasn’t a war, it was a school tournament, and he and Harry had faced worse, hadn’t they?

_ Going up against a dragon alone isn’t exactly better than a Basilisk, though, is it?  _ A voice in his head (that sounded suspiciously like Charlie) piped up. And Hermione  _ had _ pointed out this was a good opportunity for someone to try and hurt Harry and make it look like an accident. Unbidden, the image of Harry standing in front of a fifty-foot dragon rose in Ron’s head, and Harry seemed to be shrinking before it, almost the way he had looked in Snape’s dungeon, and Ron let out a long, shuddering breath.  _ He didn’t ask for this. _ Harry didn’t have a reason to lie to Sirius, and if he had agreed to meet him in the Floo only weeks after he had tried to convince him not to come back to the country at all…

Ron rolled over on his bed, shame starting to roll through his chest. He doubted very much that Harry would hang about long enough to listen to him explain that a dragon’s eyes were its weak point, but he had to say  _ something. _ He wouldn’t have let his worst enemy, let alone Harry, go up against a dragon alone without the most basic of Charlie’s tips. And - his insides squirmed with guilt - however apologetic Sirius had been, he, Ron, owed him his life, and quite possibly also the fact that he wasn’t currently a werewolf. The fear on Sirius’ face matched Ron’s rising panic, now, as echoes of Charlie’s stories of serious injuries and near-deaths at the dragon reserve kept running through his head. 

He rolled back over, listening for Harry’s breathing. He had, apparently, fallen asleep properly now. Ron almost envied him; he doubted he would fall asleep as easily. He lay there, staring at the canopy, wishing he’d been slightly less of an idiot, wishing he had taken Fred & George’s advice earlier than one o’clock in the morning. He would have to talk to Hermione tomorrow. It was all he had left that he could do. 

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so, I know in FloreatCastellum's fic that Ron didn't know about the dragons until right before the task, but I kinda wanted him and Sirius to have a chat here. It would be a bit awkward, coming as it does right after Harry vented to Sirius about Ron not talking to him. But Sirius isn't exactly about to mediate their friendship - he's got more pressing matters on his mind. And in any case, after Ron tried to stand on a broken leg to put himself between Harry and a Sirius he thought was a murderer, Sirius probably trusts him to do the right thing.


End file.
